cant maintain a high temperature in glass cage

[CatandDiallo]

The reptile store guy told me to place the thermostat probe above the substrate, this way the thermostat will make the uth heat up the cage entirely until its 92 where the probe is.

It's still not the right thing to do. That's how you end up with a snake with a burnt belly (if the snake digs under the substrate and lays on the glass, which they frequently do).

My thermostat is zilla from petco.. Like ~ $50

That'll be an unreliable thermostat. That's why you're having problems. I would return it.

[BrandonStoudt]

The best way I've found to layout my cage is to use paper towels instead of bedding. 5 of the half sheets fit the tank perfectly and are extremely easy to change. (this is for a critter cage, such as Petsmart sells. I think it's a 20 long.)

I have a UTH on my hot side plugged into a lamp dimmer (get this at Lowe's for $10) to keep it at a good 95˚ (otherwise it gets up to 120˚ and that's a small one!). My cool side is just a lamp with a 60w bulb and it's a perfect 83-85.

Also, when your snake is in shed, the paper towels will absorb water to help keep the humidity up. As for the lid, it's covered in foil insulation tape. PM me if you want to see picks of the cage!

[AK907]

I have a UTH on my hot side plugged into a lamp dimmer (get this at Lowe's for $10) to keep it at a good 95˚ (otherwise it gets up to 120˚ and that's a small one!). My cool side is just a lamp with a 60w bulb and it's a perfect 83-85.

95 degrees is kind of pushing it and 85 is also a bit warm for a cool side. I would suggest 90-92 for a hot side and 80 for your cool side and an ambient temp around 82-84ish.

[BrandonStoudt]

95 degrees is kind of pushing it and 85 is also a bit warm for a cool side. I would suggest 90-92 for a hot side and 80 for your cool side and an ambient temp around 82-84ish.

Well, the temps range, according to my room temp as well. When my room is nice and chilly it's usually 92 or 93 and 83 on cool. I haven't gotten it perfect yet since I just set it up but my sister has them same set up for her 4 year old Ball but a bigger tank. I'm using his old one.

[mattchibi]

Correct me if Im wrong, but it sounds like your room temperature is around 70-75. This means that with a cool ambient room temperature like that, its quite frankly impossible to heat up an entire glass enclosure with just a UTH. "The reptile store guy" frequently gets a lot of things wrong in my experience, I would listen to any of the experienced members on here before I check anywhere else for information.

So in your case, since you are using a glass tank, here are my suggestions:

1) Like del said, get some kind of insulation (corrugated cardboard is a great temporary insulator) and tape it to 3 sides of your glass tank, every side but the front.

2) Put 2-3 layers of tin foil and tape it to the top of the enclosure, leaving either 1/3-1/4 of the top open, or leaving a 1" strip at the back of the lid with no foil. Keep in mind you need fresh air getting into the tub, because chances are you are going to be misting like crazy to keep the humidity up. If you are misting regularly, you need to ensure there is enough fresh air flow, otherwise the air starts to get stagnant, with "dead spots" in the cage, and it makes it much easier for bacteria to build up.

3) Change your black light bulb out. You want either a CHE (Ceramic heat emitter) or an Infrared heat lamp, with a dimmer. You must get a dimmer for your heat lamp so you can manually control the ambient temps. The way I have my glass tank setup is: I have an infrared light smack dab in the center of the lid. My UTH is on the warm side under the warm hide. I use a 60 Watt bulb and have no problem reaching 77-78 on the cool side, even at night. Anything over 75 is okay.

4) Your thermostat and thermometer probe placements are wrong. Keep only a 1/2" of substrate over your UTH. Here's how your probes should be set up:

Accurite: Put the actual accurite on the cool side, and string the probe UNDER the substrate onto the warm side. Use a bit of hot glue to secure the probe, directly in the center above the UTH, above the glass. Now you have a way to measure the HOTTEST temperature your snake can reach. Keep in mind ball pythons are burrowing creatures. I frequently find my snake burrowed under the substrate and touching the glass, but I know its completely safe because my thermostat doesnt let the UTH go above 92.

Thermostat: Put the thermoSTAT probe between your UTH and the bottom of the glass. The thermostat probe will measure the temperature of your UTH, and quite frequently, the temperature that you set on your thermostat will be higher than the temperature you want. But that is completely normal. For example, in order to hit 92 on my hot spot, I set my herpstat thermostat to 94. When my tank was in a colder room, I had to set it to 97 to reach 92. So you want it to be (from top to bottom): Substrate - Accurite thermometer probe - glass - thermostat probe - UTH

Good luck! You also may want to provide a bit more ground cover. By the looks of those hides, your snake is a bit small for that cage. you could really make it feel more secure by "blacking out" three sides (this can be done if you insulate with corrugated cardboard too), as well as providing more ground cover (such as fake plants or crumpled newspaper)

[SourDeez]

Yea thinner layer for sure and insulate the back and sides at least of the tank. WOW told you to use the whole bag wow, about an inch of substrate is good. Some people just use paper towels.

[jackiechan]

Thank you so much for all the suggestions!

So heres what im going to do:
- return my zilla thermostat and get a better one (herostat)
- reduce my substrate level or switch to paper towels
- foil wrap my lid
- get different lighting. (CHE, dimmer, etc)
- change probes location

Much appreciated help and ill keep everyone updated. Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

[jackiechan]

:

Accurite: Put the actual accurite on the cool side, and string the probe UNDER the substrate onto the warm side. Use a bit of hot glue to secure the probe, directly in the center above the UTH, above the glass. Now you have a way to measure the HOTTEST temperature your snake can reach. Keep in mind ball pythons are burrowing creatures. I frequently find my snake burrowed under the substrate and touching the glass, but I know its completely safe because my thermostat doesnt let the UTH go above 92.

Thermostat: Put the thermoSTAT probe between your UTH and the bottom of the glass. The thermostat probe will measure the temperature of your UTH, and quite frequently, the temperature that you set on your thermostat will be higher than the temperature you want. But that is completely normal. For example, in order to hit 92 on my hot spot, I set my herpstat thermostat to 94. When my tank was in a colder room, I had to set it to 97 to reach 92. So you want it to be (from top to bottom): Substrate - Accurite thermometer probe - glass - thermostat probe - UTH

I have my acurite probe on the left (centered in middle of UTH)
Is my thermostat probe in the right location? I read you place it under the tank? I tried that and the probe is too big to fit under the small gap under the tank

[CatandDiallo]

I tried that and the probe is too big to fit under the small gap under the tank

Do you have some sort of rubber stopper type things making a gap between the surface and the tank?

[jackiechan]

Do you have some sort of rubber stopper type things making a gap between the surface and the tank?

yes. There were 4 small rubber pieces that came with the UTH.